


Goodnight kisses for the dead

by straightouttapopstar



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes, Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: (violence tag just to be safe), Angst, Death Threats, Dimitri goes absolutely insane, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post Timeskip, female or male Byleth, fluff at the end, this pairing gives me life man
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 19:07:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20013322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/straightouttapopstar/pseuds/straightouttapopstar
Summary: Dimitri continues to be plagued by the demons of his past—his insanity gets the best of him even at night.However, Byleth wants to be there for him to set things right.





	Goodnight kisses for the dead

**Author's Note:**

> So I wrote this with FByleth in mind but I feel like it could be fine for both really!!! No pronouns are mentioned nor any features of Byleth are mentioned either so it should be perfectly ok  
> The only spoilers are that this is post-timeskip and some Edelgard drama is mentioned when he goes crazy but nothing specific  
> Thank you and please enjoy :3c please make more for this pairing, I love Dimitri and I am thorsty  
> (Sorry for those who have been expecting me to post agdjdhdh I took a year long break because I do strictly math-based subjects in college rn and college is a binch + I rlly wanna get into Oxford this year so I rlly gotta try my best man)  
> Please enjoy!!!!!!! And kudo and comment if you liked bc I gotta know whether I should write more for these babies :3c toodles
> 
> edit 17/08/2019;  
> there may be plans to turn this fic into a brief and small visual novel following its success!!! thank you sm for reading and bookmarking ya’ll guys give me life  
> stay tuned for more updates :)  
> also I edited this quite heavily today so it may read very differently because I thought a lot of things sounded off :3c thanks for reading

It is most likely just past 3am that my sleep cycle renews itself, ready for another hourly slumber before daring to rear its face once again—but my restless limbs get the best of me instead, and so I stretch my arms along the bedsheets while my eyes flutter open. What they find is—of course—mere darkness, who’s only nemesis could be the rather brave ember of flickering candlelight sneaking its way under the door. Out of habit, I tap gently at the other side of the now dishevelled bed.

My hands swipe at empty air, missing the sleeping figure of a person who had fallen asleep there a few hours earlier.

“Dimitri?”—I question the outlines of strange objects in the gloom of the bedroom, and, interestingly, receive no response. He is nowhere to be found in the room, and my growing sense of discomfort prompts me to don my favourite soft slippers before quietly opening the bedroom door.

Quietly, I slip into the hall, and vaguely hear the background snores and shuffles in bed of the other inhabitants as I tiptoe my way through the carpeted corridor. 

The odour of antique artefacts and ancient fabrics permeates the air as I scour the halls, but see nothing of interest. _Just where could he have gone?_

I cannot say that this has never happened before. Nay, it has occurred numerous times now—and every single time it fills me with the same sort of maniacal panic. I cannot stop feeling concerned for the man however much I try; but I guess that is not surprising, considering how close we are to each other. I just wish he did not have to regularly be raising my blood pressure in the dead of night!

As my feet trek through the hall and the gentle steps on fabric turn into hard collisions with wooden floors, I continue looking for the missing man. I scour the building left and right and centre, and up and down and sideways but I still do not see nor feel the presence of my partner.

Haphazardly, I decide to open the doors of the building and to look outside for him—the cold night chill and the threatening darkness almost deter me from pursuing the search. But I press on, and see to every building of the academy and monastery until I find him.

As my search proves increasingly unsuccessful, I am at my wits’ end—then I notice that the only place I have not yet visited is the cathedral. Its huge form towers over me as I dash across the bridge from the main part of the monastery, eager to arrive there and get to the bottom of this disappearance. I gently open the enormous door which elicits a booming creak from its hinges, to see the cathedral completely deserted. However, the shy candlelight coming from the pillars somewhat still convinces me to walk in, voice a fast prayer to the goddess, and survey the area around me.

I am close to quitting my investigation until I see something—yes, the azure fur of, presumably, a coat I have seen countless times now. It is strewn along the floor, but as I turn the corner more and more each second, the large bowing figure of a person comes into view. 

“Dimitri...”—I whisper happily, quite relieved that this time I had found him unharmed and safe in the arms of the monastery cathedral. He slowly turns towards me, accidentally dropping something onto the ground.

It is a dagger.

The unexpected sound of it clashing against the polished cathedral tiles makes me swiftly stumble away, almost slipping and falling onto the floor in the process. Meanwhile, he only keeps staring at me through a single half-closed eye, his eyepatch a mystery. 

“D-Dimitri! Oh for Seiros’ sake, I am so thankful I have found you.”

“Leave.”

The short response falls deaf on my ears as I respond with a “sorry, may you please go again?”

This time I hear it loudly and clearly.

“Come back to the room and go to sleep.”

Although it takes me a second to process the statement in my tired mind, I know how to reply almost immediately.

“I shall, but only when you decide to join me.”

Suddenly, his fist collides forcefully with the hilt of the dagger on the floor in anger and the mighty _clang!_ is heard again, this time bouncing off of every single wall in the cathedral. The glimpse of violence is almost terrifying, but I do not budge. 

Still, he stares at me, breathing heavily, his upper body raising and lowering with every breath, as if he has barely any time left in the waking world. His only eye looks exhausted, and wishes that death could loosen its workload.

Suddenly, I notice that his cape looks too big on him; and him too small. The more we stare at each other, the more I take in his unnoticed fatigue. The trembling hands, his body almost drowning in his armour, his insanely narrow irises.

“May I ask why you have left the bedroom? In the dead of night? Alone?” — I whisper with a hint of care, and receive nothing but the same, empty glare. At this point it is devoid of hatred, or any other emotion for that matter—it is just there to spite all who look into his indigo eye to search for a definitive answer.

It is there to spite all but myself. In the glare I see terrible sadness, twisted hatred that never got its way out of his damaged system. Heaps of regret that choose to remain and haunt him for years.

“None of your damned business. Interest yourself in something more appropriate for this hour, Byleth.”

Treating his words as a reverse command, I too bow down to the floor to his level, and see his single eye flare up with absolute fury. All of a sudden, his fists are shaking, and they itch to slam the dagger once again to frighten me away like a threatened deer. I quickly catch his fist, and squeeze it gently.

He exhales.

“You are most incorrect. It is, above all, mostly my business to see that you are not feeling depressed - _especially_ at this ungodly hour, Dimitri. Please just...come back to the room with me.”

His eye leaves mine, and he bows his head down as if in shame.

“My apologies, Professor. Something...possessed me.”

“Yes, and it does so too often...”

Nowadays, fellow students of the academy mention that he looks...frightening. As if, not himself. Certainly, he had given us promises upon promises that he had changed his demeanour and that he would no longer be chasing after those that have been lost to the living realm—but lately, his behaviour has bothered me a little. He has been regularly refraining from seeing others unless needed to plan a strategy; many friends around the monastery are concerned for his wellbeing; people around report various instances of hearing Dimitri talking to himself quite elaborately.

It all points to a single conclusion.

“Dimitri?”

Over us rests a grueling silence that digests his name several times over until even I feel sick to the stomach.

“Dimitri? Please take my words seriously when I say this...I am concerned about you.”

”?”

”Very concerned, even...your nightmares are not healthy. **None** of this behaviour is healthy.”

He sits up slightly at my words and laughs—but the laugh is not pleasant, _not_ the bright guffaw I usually elicit out of him. 

“Oh Byleth—why would you be? How utterly _comical_! Just what else are you going to say now, what other emotions will you throw at me? Will you propose that you are _scared_ of me? _Disgusted_? Oh go _on_ , that is music to my ears!”

Before I can form a response, he out-speeds my sleepy and delayed reflexes by grasping the gleaming dagger in his hands and pushing me at the closest wall.

The weapon is at my neck in seconds. I fear to breathe.

“ **Do not** struggle. I did say so, rather clearly—to leave me alone. You will _not_ stand between me and the desire of my cold hands clasping at that woman’s throat.”

Oh, the _fool_ I am! Of course I struggle, wanting to be free of his grip that is no longer the hold of the Dimitri I know, but to no avail.

I try to use my hands to push him away to the best of my ability—I don’t care what I push at, as long as I get him to budge. However, I push as much as I possibly can and yet he stands still, solid on the ground, as if rooted to the cathedral floor. It is frightening how unbothered he is by my numerous blows and kicks even—that is, until he abruptly takes hold of both of my arms at unimaginable speed and halts my movement altogether. Suddenly, I am extremely grateful I did not take the Creator Sword with me as I usually do during night patrols, or it would have been used against me and subsequently guaranteed my death.

“Haha, _the_ venerable Professor, so easily disarmed? To see you so pathetically weak fills me with unimaginable glee. I can just imagine—oh, you are just the _perfect_ model!”

Panic rises like bile in my throat at his words; and rightly so, as he begins to tighten his hand around my neck. The rapidly fleeing air leaves me no energy to resist with my own two hands, which powerlessly lie on my opposite sides. They are numb to all but the cold feel of the cathedral walls and the caress of the nightly breeze.

“First, I will strangle her—but wait, Edelgard’s hair is longer than yours, _is it not?!_ Well then, I will use her own very hair, circle it around her neck, and then pull at it as many times as needed until there is almost no air left in her. Then”—he disturbingly nods at his dagger with a smile—“I will get rid of her organs. One by one, she will suffer as I pull out all her vital tissues.”

Silently praying to the goddess and begging that he does not demonstrate his plans on myself, I begin to struggle again; but feel close to tears when I feel his own body still steadily pushing me at the wall, leaving me no escape routes at all.

“All of them! And her army and followers and any pitiful family she has left. They will all suffer the same fate. Is it not sad, Byleth?”

I continue to struggle. I want Dimitri to let go of his nightmares! I want him to be normal...but he just continues to laugh.

”Is it not sad, you bitch! SAY IT!”

I murmur his words back at him in fear. I feel helpless as he proceeds with his monologue.

“I will kill that woman! When I get the chance, she will not live another day! I will stab her again and again and AGAIN! SHE WILL NOT LIVE! I WILL AVENGE THEM! I WILL—“

One moment of distracted shouting from him lets me knock the dagger out of his hand; feeling the threat rise, his insane features look more than ready to assault me. He leaves the dagger laying on the ground to focus on me only, and sadly, before I can react, both of his hands are on my neck again. They push on it, and the feeling of the cold wall on my skin becomes overwhelming.

“I WILL MURDER THAT WOMAN. I WILL NOT LET HER LIVE.”

“Dimitri, s-stop...”

As he walks ever closer, his hands push me upwards onto the wall, and my feet leave the ground promptly. I can feel myself gasping for air in a hurry, my survival instincts going crazy.

Everything is shutting down.

I’m powerless.

“SHE MUST DIE. AND IF NEED BE, YOU MUST TOO.”

If I had enough air in my lungs, I would have been coughing up tears for this man. This man...such a studious, kind, chivalrous and talented individual. This perfect man with a dark past that he cannot bear; a past that consumes him whole. A past that keeps him alive, yet drives him to kill others, and to some extent himself too.

It was saddening to see; yet I am somewhat glad that I would be taking my last breaths for a man I admire.

“D-Dimitri, please...!”

“PERISH!”

I can barely hear his screaming, even though his lips are inches away from my ears.

My vision blurs at the speed of light.

“Just know that I...that I cherish you...more than anyone...”

I can’t feel anything.

I’m dead.

Although I expect the goddess to see to me soon—perhaps Sothis to throw in a snarky comment about death in an endless void—I suddenly drop to the ground and hit the tiles with a soft, barely audible thud. Pained, I cannot move and feel paralysed, so I keep breathing, surprised that I can still do so.

After a while, I open my eyes and look up.

“...leth, I’m s...can’t belie...awful! I’ve been...endangered you...so careless...please speak...”

I see a vague shadow rest over me, but I have no energy left to panic—I instead focus on my breathing, which feels like a rusted bow forced to be shooting twelve soldiers per second. I think my legs feel numb, but I’m no longer sure—as I feel myself being picked up, I give up on resisting, and let my hands flail around like a corpse.

Next time I open my eyes, my vision is filled with the familiar colour of the ceiling of my own room; and in front of me sits the missing man, all in his glory. Clothed and armoured of course, and rather distraught—but the man all the same. 

“You know not how regretful I am. It possessed me again—when I was with you no less! I apologise, Byleth. I almost caused you to depart this world just now, I am so deeply sorry!”

My tongue curls upon itself to form letters in the dark—and briefly I even forget how to form a syllable. The blond rogue continues to sit next to my lying form at the bedside, patiently waiting for me to speak. His hands now radiate that familiar heat I’ve always known, the foreign hostility replaced by affection and care in his gestures. One hand’s fingers are wrapped around mine own, tickling it softly, while the other one takes its time to slowly caress my cheek. 

His rugged golden hair looks heavenly, bathed in the early morning sunrise. His smile looks friendly again, although a little bit crooked, with his lower lip almost unnoticeably shaking with concern.

“It is...alright. Do not be concerned for me now. I feel much—“

“How dare you belittle your own condition, Byleth?! I almost killed you; I am not safe for you to be with! I have not a clue about what may happen next time.”

Although I try to answer, his voice rises in volume much more with every word and I cannot say a thing as his voice continues to overpower my feeble attempts at speaking.

“I do not want to be the reason you halt your breathing forever. I...I love you, Byleth. Becoming the person who sent you to the afterlife would be my last straw.”

Feeling that my limbs have become functional again, I sit up on the bed, and look into Dimitri’s eye. It looks more than exhausted now, and the morning light highlights the bags under his eyes more than ever before. However, that single eye bears a spark—a spark that makes my dying heart dance among flames, a spark that makes my lips curl into a gentle smile. I, too, put a hand on his torn face, and slide my fingers down his creased cheek.

“I love...I love you too. Dimitri, I love you too. That is why none of this matters. All I want to do is be with you.”

“However, I am possibly the biggest danger you have faced as of yet. I am reluctant to spend any time with you, particularly when you are helpless. I do not want you to suffer because of my insanity.”

Ignoring his lengthy ‘bad boy’ speeches and etcetera, I give him a hasty yet gentle kiss on the lips. 

“Look, halt your needless fretting, Dimitri. I promise we shall overcome this. Together.”

“Together? Will you stay with me?”

As I open my mouth to answer his question, I see the blue sky surfacing over the yellowy-pink colours of the beautiful sunrise, and I shake my head with a smile.

“Of course I will—but you need to stop fleeing at night. Look; it is morning, and I have barely slept because of this, and so have you! If you had not left the room, both of us would have gotten a proper rest.”

Looking away from my eyes at the sound of my scolding tone, he scratches the back of his neck with an unsure smile.

“Of course, I promise to never do this ever again. I’m so sorry, Byleth.

“Oh, of course you will never”—I give him another kiss, and we both chuckle in unison—“now, pray tell me, what do you think about sleeping in today? Especially on a day like today?”

“Seems like a brilliant suggestion, Byleth. Quite the tempting proposition, and I may just fall for it.”

On this day, the other professors as well as students do not hear of us for a few more hours—as we lay, holding our hands together, and dreaming about each other’s smile.


End file.
